Elizabeth Fry
Quotes of: Elizabeth Fry
The modern movement for the humane treatment of Prisoners is due in large Part to the efforts of Elizabeth Fry, a sensitive, imaginative and courageous English Quaker of the 18th and 19th century (1780-1845). She ranks alongside Jane Addams, Clara Barton, Elsa Brandstrom, Dorothea Dix and Mathilda Wrede as one of the great humanitarian leaders among the women of all nations and all times.
Elizabeth Fry was brought up at Earlham Hall, the family seat of the wealthy and prominent Gurney family near Norwich, England. As a girl she was a gay participant in society, but at the age of 17 she came under the influence of a travelling American Quaker minister and soon became a "plain Friend." Later she married Joseph Fry of the famous banking family of London and to them were born eleven children.
Despite her large family, she was able to combine her many family duties with an ever increasing concern for social service, and especially for the care or the women prisoners in the then infamous Newgate Prison. As a pioneer in education, sanitation, and work for women prisoners, she flaunted the customs of her day and inaugurated humane prison practices of an astonishingly modern character.
Throughout her life she struggled with very delicate health and an extremely sensitive and shy nature. But she was sustained in her passionate concern for social justice by a deep religious faith. Her influence was felt not only in the Religions Society or Friends but throughout England and in many countries overseas.